I began looking for jobs in information technology circa 2006. I was entirely self taught. After a while of personally acquired clients for rudimentary work, I landed my first job at an advertising firm in Los Angeles.
I was working with Photoshop, Flash, After Effects, and coding in ActionScript 2 and 3.0. We built rich media campaigns for Lionsgate, CBS, and a variety of other conglomerates. It was exciting, I enjoyed my coworkers, and the culture was pleasant.
From 2007 to 2024, I went on to work at so many companies I lost count. I’d say well over 200 in all types of industries. Located in cities mainly in California, but also nationwide.
In 2018, I moved to DC and worked on Capitol Hill as a Sr. Full Stack Developer. I’ve spent time in the travel industry. Hospitality, military, automotive, entertainment, utilities, government, cybersecurity, finance, and gaming. I built wildly complex UIs and managed data via C#, Node, and Spring on the backend.
Notable employers over the years have been:
- Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate
- M&T Bank
- Prudential
- Apple’s former advertising firm, Chiat Day
- Electronic Arts (EA Games)
- FireEye Cybersecurity (FireEye and McAfee Enterprise are now Trellix)
Table of Contents
Technical Recruiters
Tech recruiters are the liaison between most if not every employer and candidate. I’ve worked with many hundreds of them. Some of which are wonderful people who show sincere interests in their candidates. They provide interview guidance, check in sporadically, and help out any way they can. These types of recruiters are a small percentage of the total in my opinion.
The vast majority of the recruiters I’ve encountered make me feel like a commodity. They’ve drilled me with questions, promise to provide updates, and I never hear from them again. I’ve been spammed by recruiters. Lied to about compensation. And gravely misrepresented many times over.
Additionally, it’s rare a recruiter even knows what CSS is. Let alone the bigger technologies. I think it’s odd that people looking to fill jobs in information technology usually lack the ability to talk about it.
Recruiters will often times have tests and share the results with their clients—companies in search of developers. I’ve never taken one of these tests that was not riddled with spelling or grammar errors. One that doesn’t have mistakes in JavaScript. Mistakes in other languages, libraries and frameworks;
I’ve even taken recruiter coding challenges that have problems with countdown timers used in the test. Typically, I’m stunned and annoyed these people are the purveyors of jobs in information technology.
I’ve been asked to falsify my resume then lie during interviews. I’ve met tech recruiters who make $180k, while others placing big tech employees exceed $300k. There are good recruiting firms out there. Of which, are few and far between.
But the majority of the ones I’ve crossed paths with are selfish, somewhat unprofessional and impersonal. Making it overwhelmingly obvious it’s not about the candidate. It’s about the money—their money.
Jobs in Information Technology
Getting jobs in information technology requires an extraordinary amount of learning and implementation. Projects need to be made to demonstrate said knowledge. And since technologies, processes, languages, libraries and frameworks rapidly evolve, it’s a constant cycle.
Titles are no more. Frontend Developer job descriptions are unrealistic and job descriptions in general are…depressing. Look at this role for instance.
Keeping up with these changes can be highly stressful. Changes that may impact social priorities and relationships. Not to mention disruptions in sleep causing anxiety and eventual burnout.
I can tell you from experience I’ve worked 70-100+ hours a week at times in every aforementioned industry. Regardless of the client or project.
Looking for work can be tremendously frustrating as the industry has become majorly saturated. In turn, the application process is far from pleasant. Recruiters and potential employers drill candidates with unrealistic questions. During which, interviewees are disallowed from using search.
Many of the coding questions I’ve been asked are things I’ve never experienced in my entire career. If the code test is done well, it’s not uncommon for interviews to run 4-6 rounds.
Candidates are expected to meet a whole slew of people. In one instance, I was surprised the janitor wasn’t asking me questions. Proving ones abilities is often times an absolute nightmare.
Moreover, it’s irrelevant if you’ve worked in prestigious places such as financial institutions. Candidates are still questioned ad nauseam.
What’s more, is that references are often required up front from recruiters or early on in the interview process. Makes no difference if you haven’t even spoken to the interviewer and you have no idea if it’s a match, your references are still contacted. So, if you’re hoping to save references for actual potential offers, good luck.
Don’t forget, web developers…software engineers…we’re commodities. No different than data. Just numbers in the system.
Longevity in the Tech Space
No matter who you are, or what skills you bring to the table, jobs in information technology are very unstable. Reorgs occur regularly. Inflation plays a role. But more recently, I think AI is doing more than we’re told. I’ve read several resources claiming CEOs are being coy about how many things are actually automated.
Companies are now able to do far more with less. I’ve read accounts of 180,000 tech jobs being cut in 2022 and 225k in 2023. 2024 is grim as well. And the year’s not even finished. I recently went from making $2,200/ week to being unemployed with zero notice. And for reasons that are as clear as mud.
M&T Bank is just one company I'm aware of that discards their hard working employees like crumbs on a dinner table. Character like that speaks volumes about the company, and those at the top. This is corporate.
Last year, ten of my coworkers were cut. All of which were told, “today’s your last day”. So, don’t ever feel like you need to provide two weeks notice because lots of companies do this. That concept was instituted in the 1940’s and 50’s when companies were building a culture post WW2.
In 2024, the culture is narcissism, apathy, repression, censorship, greed, and selfishness. If you’re in tech now, know this. There’s more job security at Taco Bell than there is in software development.
On another note, there’s no such thing as Frontend Development or a Full Stack Developer. Many of the roles call for sometimes a dozen items or more. Of which are largely contracts—which sometimes don’t even go the agreed upon duration.
I’ve seen graphics applications combined with Python, React, and C++. Angular with Spring Boot AND C# plus customer service and SEO. InDesign, Figma, with “Angular, React, Vue, etc”. I’ve gotten inquires for $30/hr and companies that won’t pay relocation expenses or provide benefits. Corporations have become cheap. They put candidates through the wringer, pressure them to work faster, and terminate for nebulous reasons.
Culture
It’s been a good ten years I think since I’ve worked on a pleasant team. In a nice environment. I’ve experienced and witnessed a shocking amount of verbal abuse. I’ve experienced more than my fair share of team leads who’re severely under qualified. And a rather odd pattern of pompous and unnecessary attitude problems.
2018-2021 I worked at a cutting edge company. Two MIT grads ran the show. The turnover rate was over 100%. When I arrived there were four of us. It grew to 30 people. Over 25 people were either fired or quit. The cycle repeated. People worked very hard and were often still in the office at 8pm.
At M&T, one of my team leads was as nice as could be during meetings. But had the propensity to send me vile multi paragraph messages about ridiculous things like Jira tickets. I reported it but management didn’t care because he was a team lead, Sr. Developer.
My most recent team lead chose a library to use that hadn’t been updated in two years. The documentation was nearly obsolete. There were minimal code samples and it had a small community. The requirements to complete a Jira ticket were astronomical. My lead’s direction was poor and he was entirely focused on DevOps. In turn, he had zero knowledge of some of the largest features in the project. When I was cut loose, he lied to my tech recruiter and my boss. Which is why I was absolutely shocked with the news.
The meetings were dreary. I felt like I was in a funeral parlor. Nothing would’ve changed if the Project Manager was OOO. We would’ve operated the same without her.
Another time, I was working for a military contractor. Building their website. It took me two extra days than originally planned. The owner criticized me via email, CCing everyone else in the company.
Think twice before pursuing jobs in information technology.
Startups & Corporate
My corporate experience is derived from a variety of companies. Including but not limited to:
- M&T Bank: Full Stack & Frontend Developer
- Health Net: Multimedia Specialist
- Prudential: UI Developer
- The Honest Company: CMS Developer
- EA Games: Web Developer
- FireEye Cyber Security: Full Stack Developer
- Viking Cruises: Application Developer
- Hyundai: Web Developer
- SCE (Southern California Edison — utility company): Developer
- Hewlett-Packard: Software Developer
Regardless of the industry, there’s definitely parallels. The process to get things accomplished is typically convoluted and nonsensical. In turn, getting things done are overly tedious and frustrating. This paves the way for inefficiency. Consequently, it’s perhaps the very reason I and many others at M&T Bank, Health Net, The Honest Company, and Prudential were let go for nebulous reasons. In essence, one could say, foolish leadership is a top reason why skilled and hard working people are upended.
EA Games however was a bit of an anomaly. There were so many games, comfortable furniture, and things to do, it was rather nice. Free arcade games, an enormous cafeteria, and opportunities to go anywhere in the building to work in solitude. There was even a laundry room. It was as if they didn’t want their employees to leave the campus. If jobs in information technology lead you to a place like this, you’re lucky!
My startup experience entails 7-10 companies. None of which I can recall their names. Nor am I aware if they flourished or failed. All of these companies were no more than 6-8 people. We worked extraordinary hours and there were lots of cut throat experiences.
There were often times false accusations, heated arguments, sexual allegations, in an overall very chaotic atmosphere.
Conclusion
In my 15 year plus experience with jobs in information technology, I was rarely happy. Jobs in information technology must be unique as I don’t hear of many of these problems from friends and family, the internet, etc. Many of my coworkers however have certainly voiced their complaints when given the chance.
With the rise of AI tools, my advice would be to exit the field altogether. Not just for the above reasons, but because it’s the least insulated in terms if AI interference. Construction on the other hand is perhaps the most insulated. AI isn’t going to bang hammers, drill, and move plywood. Jobs in information technology are crumbling. Make your new career moves, today!
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